Silver Lining
by Sniper Artist
Summary: Naruto was able to defeat Sasuke at the Valley of the End but at a cost, his bijuu and left eye. Surprisingly, it didn't kill him. What could possibly be a worse fate then death? Naruto will find out. Gray Naruto... Rated M, just in case.


Summary – Naruto was able to defeat Sasuke at the Valley of the End but at a cost, his bijuu and left eye. Surprisingly, he just happens to survive his extraction so Itachi decides to do something.

AN – Ok, I know what you're all thinking. What's up with the summary? Well, just read and I'll explain at the bottom. Another thing, I seriously need a way to relieve my block so I'd best get all my ideas out of my poor, poor brain….

* * *

Naruto crouched down to his feet, gathering an enormous amount of red chakra to his palms as he stared down his rival and best friend, Uchiha Sasuke. The blonde knew he wasn't thinking straight but if there was one thing he knew, it was that his body was deteriorating and quickly. He had to end this battle now or there wouldn't be any way to defeat his current opponent.

All of their words having already been spoken, they leaped into the air and clashed with their most powerful techniques. Naruto managed to slam his attack into Sasuke's stomach while his opponent stretched across and slashed out his left eye, unable to behead him. The overall result was a giant void that momentarily stopped the waterfall and then a moment later, the battle was over.

Both of them were alive but neither was well. Sasuke fell to his knees, motionless and tired. The moment he saw his rival standing along with him, he knew the battle would end in his defeat. Even though he really detested Naruto for stopping him from going to Orochimaru, the battle finally gave him a sort of closure. The punk from the academy was stronger than him.

Said punk was his best friend and if this battle, a fight that was supposedly to the death and not to mention him slicing a Chidori at his eye, didn't break their friendship then he figured that nothing will. Sasuke was a revenge driven fool but he knew when he was defeated.

Naruto didn't look any better than him. His clothes were tattered from all the cuts from the battle. Blood was dripping from his wounded eye and it was that moment when he knew that looking out of it would be impossible. Not even the Kyuubi was able to regenerate it after a long battle like they just had.

He then began to move.

"Sasuke… you do know that I just whooped your ass right?" The blonde grinned as the young Uchiha heir scowled. The scowl then turned into a light hearted sigh and a nod of resignation with slight respect. He was defeated and Naruto wasn't even fighting to kill.

"Hn…dobe" For some reason, he couldn't feel the tainted chakra of Orochimaru linger in him. He reached to the back of his neck to search for the seal only to find that it was gone. Slight shock formed in him.

"Now I have to drag your sorry ass home!" Before Naruto could reach him, a mysterious figure appeared in between them.

The figure was one that neither Sasuke nor Naruto would ever forget. He wore the signature cloak of the_ Akatsuki and an orange mask _that had a swirling pattern.

"Now, now…that was an incredible battle... for genin at least. But it is about time for me to be taking you away, Jinchuuriki." Naruto widened his eyes before blacking out from a punch the man planted in his stomach. Sasuke couldn't move, too tired from his battle. The Akatsuki member turned to him.

"Ah! Uchiha-san, you are lucky that I only feel like carrying one body. So…I'll just let you rot here. See! I'm not killing you! Oh and thank you for weakening Naruto for me." And with that, the man just disappeared with Naruto on his shoulders but not before he said his last words.

"Tobi's a good boy!"

All Sasuke could do was stare into the open space, shock and sorrow quickly showing in his face. His friend was just captured and in a way, he had helped. Guilt was building and the feeling was not pleasant. Unable to process any information, his brain completely shut down and he fainted from his lack of energy.

Within a few minutes, Kakashi arrived and when he saw Naruto's absence, a feeling of dread filled him.

* * *

_Rain Country – hidden Akatsuki base_

Gathered in a dark cave were ten ominous figures, all standing on a demonic like hand.

The members of Akatsuki were gathered together for the first time in a long time. They were all called in by the leader, something that wasn't regularly done. The reasons why though was clearly obvious.

"It seems that we have managed to acquire one of the Jinchuuriki…" They all nodded.

"Which one was caught?" Kisame asked. Pain took out a scroll and laid it out in front of them. He unsealed the body.

Itachi managed to keep a straight face as panic began to rise in his stomach. He recognized the body as Uzumaki Naruto though he had a scar on his left eye. For all intent and purposes, Itachi knew that somewhere in the afterlife, his old commander, the Yondaime Hokage was in deep sorrow.

And once again, Itachi steeled his guilt and nerves, something he once did before destroying his family.

It was a shame to see the _son_ of the Forth Hokage die in such a way.

"How did you capture him?" The raven haired man asked. Pain looked at him and answered.

"He was in the middle of a battle with Konoha's last Uchiha when one of our recruits found him… Tobi was his name. Apparently, the Uchiha was seeking out Orochimaru…" That explained it, Itachi nodded. He was disappointed in his brother but hopefully, this would open his eyes a bit.

"_Madara…" _He thought bitterly as Pain spoke again.

"We will extract his Bijuu immediately."

* * *

_Days later… after the sealing_

It took them a full week to seal the Kyuubi, something that left even Pain exhausted. By the time it was over, the members of the Akatsuki were down on their knees breathing.

"Feisty thing, that damn fox…" Kakuzu muttered, annoyed by the sheer amount of time it took to seal one of the beasts. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"This was not foreseen… I did not think the Kyuubi would be so difficult to rip out." Pain agreed, sighing. Before he left though he heard the sound of irregular breathing. Looking down, he saw the bloodshot eyes of Uzumaki Naruto, trying his absolute best to stay alive. The other members noticed this and couldn't help but feel impressed.

"He's still alive…" Konan said, disbelief and slight awe laced in her voice. The extraction of the Kyuubi was a process that guaranteed death for any Jinchuuriki.

"A strong willed boy." Sasori muttered offhandedly. Deidara nodded in agreement.

"_Reminds me of Hashirama…"_ Kakuzu thought to himself, though he would never tell anyone else that.

"The runt is good, haha!" Kisame voiced. Itachi suddenly jumped down. Everyone looked from above, curious as to why he did so.

"It is not a surprise. He is the son of the Forth Hokage and his wife after all…" Itachi said apathetically though this caused some reactions.

"…So that's Kushina's son?" Kisame asked, amusement in his voice. The shark man knew of Uzumaki Kushina through whispers and to be honest it shocked him more to find out Naruto was her son instead of the Forth.

"You knew of Uzumaki Kushina?" Itachi asked.

"Tch! If you were from Mist, then you had to know of the woman. She was the last Uzumaki and after she died, we thought it was the end of that line." He replied. Itachi didn't reply and activated his _**Mangekyo Sharingan**_. He then materialized a chakra sword into his hands. Sasori and a few others recognized it immediately.

"The Sword of Totsuka…I can only imagine Orochimaru's face when he finds out that you wield it." Itachi didn't reply again. Looking into the boy's eyes, a ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

"Where do you wish to go?" Itachi asked the former Jinchuuriki. Naruto was too weak to answer.

"Just think of the place…and I'll send you there." And with that, Itachi plunged the sword into the boy's stomach. Naruto widened his eyes.

"Seal!" Itachi muttered, sealing Naruto inside the gourd that his inner Susanoo held, the blonde began to materialize into his new "prison".

"_Farewell Naruto and thank you for saving my little brother."_

No one bothered to ask Itachi about his actions. It didn't matter to them.

The Kyuubi was sealed and their job was done.

* * *

_Konoha_

Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage with Sasuke in tow. The boy had woken up during the travel to Konoha.

He didn't mutter a word to Kakashi during the time.

But right now, fear gripped his heart as he faced Tsunade of the Sannin.

"Where is Naruto?" Her voice was low but any good shinobi knew, that it was the calm before the storm.

"…After our fight…" He hesitated as Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "A man wearing a black cloak with red clouds appeared… and took him. There was nothing I could do…" He spoke in a self-loathing manner. The Sannin widened her eyes at the news.

And then there was that dreaded moment of silence before any other reaction was seen.

Tsunade was trembling. Shizune was crying and overall, the office was moments from exploding.

"_**GET OUT!" **_The two nodded quickly and left the premises. Anger fueling her body, the old woman grabbed her desk and hurled it out of the window, sending the wooden furniture kilometers away from the office.

Only then did she sit back down in her chair, tears dripping from her eyes.

"No… no…"

It had happened again. The cursed necklace that belonged to her… took away another of her loved ones. This time…it was her surrogate grandson.

**

* * *

**

_?_

Naruto was not the brightest of his class that much was obvious. But even he knew when things were suspicious.

For many years… he was alone and without a family so naturally, this warmth that he was feeling was unfamiliar to him and thus, he was very uncomfortable. He tried to think.

After his battle with Sasuke, some weirdo appeared out of nowhere and gave him a good punch to the gut. When he woke up, he was fighting to stay alive and then some dude, Itachi he realized, appeared in front of him with a cool looking Sharingan, stabbing him with a chakra sword.

Now Naruto had to admit. Sasuke's brother was really cool even if he was a traitor to Konoha.

After getting stabbed by the sword, he found himself in Konoha, inside of a really big house.

In front of two people.

Smiling.

And one of them was his hero.

The other was a pretty red headed woman.

Naruto felt a little nervous. "Uhh…hello…" The woman giggled.

"Oh…he's so cute." Naruto felt a blush of embarrassment. I mean c'mon, who wanted to be called "cute" in front of a bad ass like the Forth, not to mention his childhood hero. It was completely embarrassing.

"Indeed." The elder man chuckled. Now, Naruto was sure his face got even redder. His hero was laughing at him.

It was official, this was the most embarrassing day of his professional career.

"Well, Naruto-kun, I'm sure that you would like to know who we are." Naruto nodded.

"Well… I know the Forth Hokage but you…I don't know who you are, sorry." He said sheepishly. She smiled beautifully, a sight that gave Naruto a warm feeling. He didn't know what it was but it felt nice.

"Naruto-kun… I'm your mother." She replied, brushing her hair to the side gently.

Naruto stared in silence, shocked. Slowly but surely, his jaws were dropping.

"And the Forth Hokage, Minato-kun here, is my husband." She continued. Naruto's jaw fell even further to the floor if that was possible.

"And he's your father."

Naruto's jaw fell even further to the floor. Minato laughed at his son's incredulous face.

Information overloading his brain, Naruto fainted.

And thus, a new story began.

* * *

**END**

Thank you and please review. I would like some input for this one particular story.

Oh and in this story, sealing the Kyuubi last in unneeded. So please, toss it from your mind. You are also free to ask questions.


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